"Toward the One Water Summit"
During the high-level segment at COP28 on December 1, the President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron and the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced that a “One Water Summit” will be organized by both countries on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2024.
Listen to France's announcement here
Listen to Kazakhstan's annoucement here
The global water crisis is growing under the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, and is worsening due to the lack of appropriate water governance at all levels. The increasing variability of the global hydrological cycle results in a reduction of water availability, in quality and quantity, and is consequently affecting human well-being, as well as development, environment and economy.
Water is a key element for climate action, as much for mitigation (energy generation, carbon storage) as for adaptation (risk reduction, water resilience, food security). Yet, coherent and cross sectoral water policies are still lacking at the global level.
The 2023 United Nations Water Conference, first in a generation, has acknowledged the global water crisis, and a new global agenda on waterhas been launched with a next UN Water Conference in 2026 and the preparation of a UN system-wide strategy on water and sanitation.
COP28 in Dubaï was a first important milestone for the further integration of water into climate discussions, actions and finances.
France and Kazakhstan organized a side event launching the preparation of the One Water Summit on December 10 during the Water and Agriculture Day at the COP, in the presence of the French Minister for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion Christophe Béchu.
Watch the event on the Water Pavilion:
This event enabled to launch the One Water Summit Steering Committee, chaired by Barbara Pompili, Special Envoy to the French President for the One Water Summit, and Zulfiya Suleimenova, Advisor to the President - Special Representative to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan on International Environmental Cooperation.
It gathered different leaders on water, from countries, UN organizations, financial institutions, civil society and private sector, to mobilize and pursue international discussions on solutions to address water-related challenges and water finance, in the context of climate change.
Following the event, Minister Christophe Béchu announced France is joining the WWF Freshwater Challenge. The FWC is a country-led initiative that aims to support, integrate and accelerate the restoration of degraded rivers and wetlands by 2030, as well as conserve intact freshwater ecosystems. It is an important partner for the Summit.
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Discover the discussions held at the COP:
The COP Presidency program is available here
The UNFCCC program is available here
The France Pavilion program is available here
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One Planet coalitions at COP
During COP28 Leaders' event on protecting nature for climate, lives and livelihoods, President Emmanuel Macron delivered on the One Forest Summit and country packages for forests, the One Planet - Polar Summit, the BBNJagreement from the One Ocean Summitand towards the United Nations Ocean Conference, and the preparation of the One Water Summit for 2024.
Following up on the commitments made at COP27and in Libreville, France announced it will mobilize 500 M € for forests in four years and launched three new country packages with:
- Papua New Guinea (with the European Union): launched by Papua New Guinea's Minister for Internal Security Peter Tsiamalili, French Secretary of State for Development Chrysoula Zacharopoulou and Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, in the presence of partners (GEF, Australia, Conservation International, IUCN, FAO, Moore Foundation, WCS, WWF), it aims to extend protected areas to meet the 30x30 target, improve forest management and develop value chains, develop sustainable financing and support research.
- Congo (with the European Union): launched by Congolese Forest Economy Minister Rosalie Matondo, French Minister for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion Christophe Béchu, and European Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius, in conjunction with partners (Conservation International, WCS, WWF, IUCN, African parks, IRD), it aims to support research, extend protected areas, encourage afforestation and raise public awareness.
- Democratic Republic of Congo (with the United States and Germany): launched by the Advisor to President Tshisekedi Stéphanie Mbombo, in the presence of France, Germany and the United States, it aims to protect peatlands, high-value forests and key biodiversity areas, boost investment and develop carbon credits with high environmental and social integrity.
France, Conservation International and Women for a Common Future met on the theme of "Forests, vital reserves for humanity: ensuring their protection and inclusive management, as well as access to innovative financing" at the France Pavilion on December 8 to support the launches of these partnerships. Nine months after the One Forest Summit and 6 months after the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact, COP28 was a pivotal moment for country packages and provided an opportunity to promote "forest diplomacy".
The conservation and financing of vital carbon and biodiversity reserves was discussed, also on the occasion of the announcement of the "Vital Reserves in the Amazon" project and a reminder of the French government's key commitment, particularly in the context of the "Our Future Forests - Green Amazon" project. It featured testimonies from players on the ground, presenting exemplary practices that integrate gender justice into the management of natural resources, the fight against the climate crisis and the conservation of biodiversity.
The Powering Past Coal Alliance was joined during COP28 by new member States: the United States, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, the Dominican Republic, Iceland, Kosovo, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, Malta and Colombia.
The US Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry stated on December 2: "At COP28, I joined President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders to proudly announce the United States is joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance. We will work with partners around the world to phase out unabated coal, an absolutely essential step for keeping 1.5 C within reach."
President Emmanuel Macron met Bloomberg at the COP on December 2 about the Net-Zero Data Public Utility, formerly One Planet Data Hub. This initiative aiming to encourage massive global commitments to transparency and accountability from the private sector to meet carbon neutrality was welcomed by the One Planet Summit in the run-up to COP26.
It was highlighted in Dubaï by Emmanuel Macron for already allowing us to compare the decarbonization processes of 400 of the world’s largest companies.
Discover the press release
The Global Covenant of Mayors, largest global alliance for city climate leadership, initiatives of which were launched during One Planet Summits, joined the first ever Local Climate Action Summit at the COP. It carried the importance and ambition of cities in the fight against climate change, notably based on the reportby C40 Cities, GCoM and Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance that cities, crucial for climate action, receive only 1% of the necessary global climate finance annually. GCoM issued on this occasion its "Integrity Matters for Cities, States, and Regions" report.
The Great Green Wall Accelerator, launched at the 2021 One Planet Summit on biodiversity, hosted a high-level event on "The SADC (Southern African Development Community) Great Green Wall, an African ambition to solve the world's most pressing problems" on December 2. The Great Green Wall Accelerator (GGWA) is an agile, multi-stakeholder structure that brings new political ambition to the financing and implementation of the Great Green Wall. Its mission is to harmonize the efforts of all funding partners and to catalyze joint action to protect and restore ecosystems, improve food security for rural populations, strengthen carbon storage in soils and reduce migration pressure.
During a talk on "Elevating the Climate-Land-Nature-Drought Nexus, from Climate COP28 to Land COP16"on December 9, the UNCCDnotably enabled to take the GGWA as an exemple of good ongoing practices to boosting resilience by leveraging innovative finance and encouraging nature-based solutions. The One Water Summit was also identified as a future important step in that direction.
PREZODE, which aims to prevent new zoonotic pandemics while guaranteeing the food security and livelihoods of the world's poorest communities, was launched at the One Planet Summit on biodiversity in 2021 and continued to be expanded at the recent One Forest Summit.
PREZODE hosted a meeting at the France Pavilion on December 3 on the theme of "Mobilizing local communities and smart health products for a healthier planet". Together with Unitaid, this event looked at ways of making the planet healthier by mobilizing local communities, experts and political leaders, and highlighting health risk prevention systems and climate-smart health products.
French Minister for Territorial Organization and Health Professions Agnès Firmin Le Bodo recalled that we must collectively adapt our healthcare systems to meet the challenges of climate change and that PREZODE is a pioneer in anticipating emerging risks.
Cambdoge, Gabon, France, Senegal and Zambia, along with Unitaid, signed on this occasion the declarationproposed by PREZODE urging to collectively build One Health-resilient system to tackle the negative impacts of climate change on human, animal and ecosystems health.
During his opening statement of the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) session at Finance Day of COP28, Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and chair of the NGFS, reminded the achievements of the Network since its creation at the One Planet Summit in December 2017. He announced the publication of an NGFS report aiming to support global efforts to increase blended finance for climate mitigation and adaptation investments in emerging markets and developed economies. This report is the result of the cumulative efforts of all participants to the NGFS Blended Finance Initiative and has truly benefitted from multilateral and public-private collaboration.
The One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds coalition, launched at the first One Planet Summit in 2017, organized an event on December 4 on the France Pavilion on "Financing the energy transition in Southern countries". Organized with the Renewable Energies Union (SER) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), it highlighted effective measures to increase private investment in clean energy and improve public-private synergies through strengthened policies and public financing. The focus was also to facilitate investment in renewable energy projects in emerging and developing economies, to ensure a fair and equitable transition to clean energy sources.
The FAST-Infracoalition, with HSBC, the OECD, the IFC, the Global Infrastructure Facility and the Climate Policy Initiative, launched under the auspices of the One Planet Lab at COP25 in Madrid, discussed on "Financing sustainable infrastructure adapted to climate change: governance solutions and labelling" at the France Pavilion on December 6. The panel provided an opportunity for speakers to discuss solutions for redirecting capital flows towards high-quality sustainable infrastructure (particularly in emerging countries), such as FAST-Infra and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) methodology. The aim is to improve the quality and financing of infrastructure.
The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC), launched at the One Planet Summit on biodiversity in 2021, carried the ambitious target to protect 30% of the world's land and 30% of the world's seas by 2030 (30x30 target) through to the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GFB) at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
On December 9, the HAC hosted high-level the event "From agreement to action: Harnessing the 30x30 to tackle climate change" with the COP Presidency and the High Level Climate Champions.
Governments, indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society and private sector actors came together to celebrate the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal framework and take stock of progress in its implementation one year ahead of the CBD COP15. By examining how governments are delivering on their commitment to conserve, protect and restore at least 30% of the world's land and oceans by 2030, and highlighting the contribution of leading non-state actors, this event underlined the importance of action on nature in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.
It sought to unlock progress on the target of mobilising US$ 200 billion per year in biodiversity finance by 2030 and at least US$ 20 billion per year in international biodiversity finance by 2025.
The HAC also held in Dubaï its ministerial meeting with all committed States. It organized meetings on national pavilions too, to take stock on the use of the HAC toolkit for30x30, notably in the presence of the Minister for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion Christophe Béchu.
During COP28, the coalition was joined by its 118th member: China.
On December 9, "nature positive" for climate action was discussed with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD). The challenges highlighted by the coalition, notably the risks and opportunities we face as mainstream use of "nature positive" picks up, can be found here.
The Kiwa initiative for climate resilience of Pacific communities has been highlighted at the COP. Its successful achievements on the ground have been prezented during a discussion at the IUCN Pavilion on December 9 on "Accelerating Finance for Nature-based Solutions: Unlocking Opportunities for Sustainable Development". It was also shown as en a exemple on December 10 at the IDFC Pavilion on "Transforming Financial Systems for Climate and Nature: Which role for Public Development Banks?".
"Reinforcing ambition on ocean-climate solutions: blue carbon and its extensions" has been part of discussions with the event organized on December 9 at the France Pavilion by the International Partnership on Blue Carbon. This initiative, to which France, UNESCO and AFD are parties, is the concrete expression of the International Coalition for Marine Ecosystems and Blue Carbon launched at the initiative of France, Colombia and Costa Rica at the One Ocean Summit in 2022.
The One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B), initiated within the One Planet Lab framework, is determined to drive transformational systemic change and catalyze action to protect and restore cultivated and natural biodiversity within the value chains, engage institutional and financial decision-makers, and develop and promote policy recommendations for the CBD COP15 framework.
On December 10, at the France Pavilion, the coalition intervened on how sustainable agriculture can deliver on climate, biodiversity and sustainable development. Regenerative agricultural practices are vital for transforming the agri-food sector. Regenerative food systems address the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, farmers' livelihoods, and food security. It is not just a solution; it is one of the best ways to sustain the global population within planetary boundaries. The event highlighted sustainable agriculture as an integrated solution with multiple benefits for biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation, land restoration, food security, health, and resilience.
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Follow-up on the One Planet - Polar Summit
The COP Cryosphere Pavilion, supported by our partner the International Climate Cryosphere Initiative (ICCI), hosted an UNESCO event on December 5 on the "Roadmap to the International Year of Glacier Preservation and Glacier Day 2025 and Beyond”.
The One Planet Summit participated to present the Paris Call for Glaciers and Poles and the deliverable of the Decade of Polar and Glacier Sciences.
The event provided an opportunity to follow up on the "Climate Change, Cryosphere Change: Towards the International Year of Glacier Preservation 2025" event organized at UNESCO on November 14 following the Summit on glaciers and poles.
The annual ministerial meeting of the Ambition on Melting Ice has also been held at COP28 on December 9.
The Ambition on Melting Ice, which France joined at the One Planet - Polar Summit, is endorsed in the Paris Call for Glaciers and Poles. France is encouraging more countries to get involved and brought this momentum to the COP by participating in the ministerial meeting, reprezented by the Minister for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion Christophe Béchu.
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Harnessing biodiversity credits
The deliberations at the One Forest Summit, informed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) report on innovative finance for nature and people, argued that it is necessary to facilitate the creation and growth of markets for high-integrity biodiversity credits.
The Summit for a New Global Financing Pact, taking place in Paris from June 22 to 23, offered a unique opportunity to move forward in building a new natural capital economy, in which biocredits play an important role.
At a One Planet event at the Summit on June 22, the UK and France launched an open and inclusive process by co-chairing an Advisory Panel that will work with other countries and key partners to facilitate the consolidation of existing processes and initiatives and support their convergence.
The aim of this Panel is draw up a "roadmap to harness high-integrity biodiversity credits".
At COP28, two important meetings took place on December 4:
- An open discussion, chaired by the British Treasury, was organized at the UK Pavilion to present the panel to the international community.
- A meeting, chaired by Razan Al Mubarak, High Level Champion for COP28 and Panel member, took place at the GEF Pavilionon the potential of biocredits for developing countries, with a focus on indigenous peoples and local communities.